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A Fund-Raiser's Guilty Verdict

A sorry chapter in the Democrats' 1996 fund-raising abuses led yesterday to the conviction of the only person in the scandals to face a trial so far. The verdict was a blow to Vice President Al Gore, even though no evidence has surfaced suggesting that he knew of the scheme at the center of this case. The vice president is affected indirectly, however, because Maria Hsia, a longtime Gore supporter, was found guilty of all five counts related to her involvement in an illegal scheme to raise money at the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, Calif., where Mr. Gore famously appeared. The vice president later denied that he knew of any fund-raising going on at the temple.

There has never been much doubt that illegal fund-raising took place at the temple. The monks, nuns and others who wrote checks and were later reimbursed admitted their participation. At issue in the trial was the prosecution's charge that Ms. Hsia in effect masterminded the scheme. The jury yesterday obviously rejected as implausible her assertion that she was unaware of it. But the lingering question is whether anyone else higher up in the fund-raising hierarchy knew what was going on. Since Ms. Hsia denies that she knew of anything illegal, it is unlikely that she will turn around now and start naming higher-ups with guilty knowledge. But what seems obvious from the trial is that people who should have ensured that no shady things were happening either looked the other way or were too busy raising money to ask. That is the central embarrassment of the over-the-top fund-raising effort by the Democrats, which Mr. Gore himself has acknowledged was too lax.

The trial featured a videotape of the vice president at the temple, clasping his hands in gratitude and meeting with Ms. Hsia. Republicans have already tried to get a copy, no doubt for use in campaign ads if Mr. Gore gets the Democratic presidential nomination. Television viewers may become quite familiar with this disgraceful episode. It would be even better if they became outraged enough to demand campaign finance reform that would ban unregulated donations to political parties known as ''soft money.'' Until soft money is ended, further scandals are almost guaranteed.